Better Than Ice Cream
by pleasant-hell
Summary: Rachel meets a little girl in an ice cream parlor.
1. Chapter 1

prompted by yourkat.

kid!faberry in ice cream parlor. 1k words.

No matter what ff says, ms word says it's exactly 1k words.

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><p>Rachel sat in the ice cream parlor with her daddy, staring at the vanilla topped ice cream cone in her hand. She looked from it up to him. "It didn't hurt the cow did it?"<p>

He ran his hand over his dark, thinning hair. "I don't think so."

"But you're not sure?" Rachel asked, looking back at the ice cream, staring at it with a conflicted gaze.

He just sighed helplessly.

Before Rachel could as another question, she looked across the parlor. She saw a chubby little girl with glasses and fraying braided pigtails looking at her flattened ice cream on the ground. She looked up at a blonde man who was on his phone. The man looked at the little girl and told her that if she wanted it, she shouldn't have dropped it.

Rachel felt a pang in her chest for the little girl with tears in her eyes. So when the man got up to ask the person working behind the counter for something to write with as he continued talking on his phone about things Rachel didn't understand, she slid out of her booth.

"What are you doing?" her daddy asked her.

"I'll be right back," Rachel stated, picking up her ice cream off of the table. She walked across the parlor, under her daddy's watchful gaze. She carefully tiptoed over the fallen ice cream that was starting to melt.

A single tear had trekked down the little brown-haired girl's face and her head hung as she stared at her knees. Rachel walked up to her and when the little girl looked at her, she smiled brightly at her, "I'm Rachel."

The girl looked at her and nodded looking at the hands in her lap, "I know. We go to the same school."

"Oh," Rachel scrunched her mouth to one side trying to remember ever seeing the little girl. She shook her head, realizing that she had no clue. "What class are you in?"

"Ms. Garbo," the other girl muttered.

"Oh. My friend Tina is in that class." Rachel smiled. She didn't know this little girl because they were in different classes. "I'm in Ms. Kelly's class. I haven't seen you at recess though."

The girl carefully looked up at Rachel through the panes of her glasses. "I like to read…in the library."

"Oh," Rachel took a step to the right because the ice cream was starting to run closer to her. She didn't want to get melted ice cream on her new ballet shoes. "Well, I saw that you dropped your ice cream." With that statement, she thrust her ice cream cone at the little girl. "You can have mine."

"Really?" the little girl asked, unsure of the other girl.

Rachel nodded, "I'm not sure I want it. It's got milk in it." She looked at the ice cream and then to the girl in hopes that the girl would take it before it melted in her hand.

"So?" the little girl still just looked at the ice cream, then back to the other girl's big brown eyes.

"My daddy's not sure if it hurts the cows or not and I don't want to eat it until I'm sure," Rachel stated with conviction.

The little girl carefully took the ice cream from Rachel, "Thanks." She took an experimental lick like she was making sure it wasn't gross. Then she smiled. "I like your clothes."

Rachel beamed and looked down at her pink unitard and tutu. "Thanks! I just got out of ballet class."

"Is it fun?" the little girl asked.

Rachel nodded vigorously, "It's so much fun. We get to dance and jump and twirl. Mike and Brittany are really good at it. I'm getting kinda good too…." She started to ramble about the class as Lucy hung on her every word, "There's this mean girl that makes mean faces at Mike when he dances with Brittany. I don't even know why she's there. She's not even in the class." Then she stopped like she forgot what she was talking about and then smiled at Lucy, "You should do it too!"

The little girl smiled, getting excited, "I want to do it too."

"You could get a tutu too!" Rachel said excitedly. "And ballet shoes! It's so much fun!"

The little girl was getting more excited at Rachel kept talking.

Rachel looked back at her daddy who was smiling at her with that goofy smile she didn't really understand. Then she looked back at the little girl, "What's your name?"

"Lucy," the little girl said quietly. She didn't like her name. The kids in her class made fun of her name and her in general.

"That's a pretty name," Rachel mentioned before rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. She glanced behind her and saw the mean man who was with Lucy start to make his way back over to the table, "Well, I hafta go. I'm going to see a play with my daddy tonight. Maybe if you wanna hang out at recess sometime, you could come outside. I like to play on the swings with Kurt."

"Is Kurt your boyfriend?" Lucy asked.

Rachel giggled, "Ew! No. Boys are gross."

Lucy nodded, "Boys _are_ gross."

"Sometimes I play with Dave," she pushes her bangs out of her face. "But he likes to play with Noah now. But Mercedes likes to play with me and Kurt sometimes. Anyway, Kurt's nice."

Lucy smiled wider than Rachel thought possible and nodded, "Can I come play with you tomorrow?"

Rachel nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! See you tomorrow!" Then just as the mean man got into earshot, she pirouetted away and into her daddy's arms.

"I'm proud of you Rachel," her daddy said as he stood up with her, "Do you want another ice cream cone?"

"Nah," she said, pulling him toward the door, "We have to go get my dress for the play remember?"

He laughed and allowed his daughter to pull him out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

This was really supposed to be a one-shot. But now it's not. Again prompted by yourkat. Ballet Class. 1k words.

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><p>Lucy stood outside of the door of the dance studio. She asked her mom is she could do ballet and her mom happily agreed. It took her a little finagling to get it past Lucy's dad, but soon her mom bought her a leotard, a tutu and some ballet shoes.<p>

"I'm going to be sitting in the waiting room with the other parents," her mom told her and opened the door of the studio for her.

Lucy stood in the middle of the doorway for a moment, surveying the room. The light wooden were wall to wall only covered in the corner by a rug under a piano. There was a group of little girls all standing in the corner watching a blonde girl twirl around.

With a little push from her mom, Lucy stepped inside. She just stood there for a moment and jumped when she head a voice behind her. "Who are you?"

Lucy turned around and saw a girl sitting in the corner. She hadn't noticed her before because the girl was in the middle of a shadow. Her dark hair and dark shirt also helps hide her. "I-I'm Lucy."

The dark-haired shadow girl, looked her over. "You're new."

Lucy nodded.

"If you're not nice to Brittany, I'll make you eat dirt," the girl said.

Lucy's eyes widened.

"Santana!" a little voice came from the group. Lucy's head whipped over to find Rachel stalking toward them. "Don't be mean to Lucy. She's my friend."

Lucy beamed at Rachel calling her, her friend. She wasn't really sure if Rachel would even remember her.

"I was just telling her to be nice to Brittany," Santana huffed and crossed her arms.

Rachel took Lucy's hand and lead her to the group, "Everyone's nice to Brittany."

"They better be!" Santana called after them.

"Just ignore Santana. She's just going to sit there the whole time," Rachel explained to Lucy as they neared the group.

When they arrived, Rachel stopped. Everyone looked at them. Rachel beamed, "This is my friend Lucy."

The blonde girl that was twirling smiled, "I'm Brittany."

Lucy was a little afraid to talk to the girl and glanced back at Santana to see the brunette carefully scrutinizing everything she was doing.

"Can you even dance?" one of the girls asked snidely.

A boy that Lucy didn't even see immediately looked at the snide girl, "Hey, she's new. Be nice." He turned to her, "I'm Mike."

Lucy still didn't speak.

Brittany tilted her head, "Can she talk?"

"I-I can talk," Lucy replied.

Before anyone else could say anything, the dance teacher walked in.

She greeted everyone and introduced herself to Lucy as Ms. Allen. She had everyone line up for warm ups and Rachel made sure that Lucy was in the warm up line right next to her.

"You're doing it wrong," one of the girls hissed at Lucy who was trying really hard to keep her feet in second position.

"She's doing better than you," Rachel hissed back.

Lucy smiled at her friend who readily smiled back.

Ballet class was fun and Lucy couldn't wait to come back. As everyone was hanging around waiting for their parents to come get time Rachel stood in front of Lucy. "I haven't seen you outside during recess yet."

Lucy looked at the ground, "I got scared. I didn't know if you'd remember me."

"Of course I remembered you," Rachel smiled, "I told everyone about you."

Lucy pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Oh well, I'll come play tomorrow."

Rachel took her turn to nervously look at the ground. "Will you be my best friend?"

The taller girl's eyes widened. No one had ever asked her that. She didn't really know how to be a best friend, but she was sure she'd never wanted to be best friends with anyone more. "Yeah."

Rachel grinned.

"Great now the losers are friends," the snide little girl from earlier remarked.

"They're not losers," Brittany stepped up between them and the mean redheaded girl.

The redhead rolled her eyes, "You just think that because you're stupid."

The group let out a collective gasp. Brittany was stunned before tears started to trickle out of her eyes.

No one heard the rapidly approaching footsteps until it was too late. A dark streak flew through the air and hit the redheaded girl, knocking her to the ground. When they came into focus, everyone saw Santana pulling the red hair demanding that she, "Take it back."

Lucy looked at Rachel and they both inched away from the group as Ms. Allen stepped up to intervene.

"She's right," Lucy watched her shoes take every step, "I am a loser. All the kids in my class think so."

"My dads say you're not a loser unless you make yourself one," Rachel stated, "We're not losers. We're just different."

Lucy stopped by the door. She smiled at Rachel and was about to speak when her mom stepped in. "Ready to go sweetie?"

Lucy nodded. She looked at Rachel and then back at her mom. "Can we go get ice cream with Rachel?"

Lucy's mom smiled, "If that's alright with Rachel's parents." She knelt down, "You're the one that shared your ice cream with Lucy?"

Rachel folded her hands in front of her respectfully and answered, "Yes ma'am."

"It's nice to meet you Rachel," Lucy's mom smiled. "We'll wait here until your parents come and ask them."

Rachel got really excited. She's never had a best friend before. Sure Kurt was her friend, but he always wanted to watch the boys play football and Rachel got bored doing that. Now she had a best friend. A real one.

When Rachel's dad arrived, he and Lucy's mom talked for a few minutes before deciding to take their daughters out for ice cream.

Lucy and Rachel sat in the ice cream parlor a few minutes later, sharing a lemon sorbet because neither Rachel's dad or Lucy's mom knew if getting milk from cows hurt.


	3. Chapter 3

This is really the last chapter. It is 1k words.

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><p>Rachel sat in her bed looking at the picture in her fingertips. She took it from Finn's wallet the last time he came over. He hasn't noticed it was gone yet so she kept it in her nightstand. She didn't take it because she was jealous. She didn't mind that he had another girl's picture in his wallet. Especially this girl. Especially this picture.<p>

She looked at the rounded lines of the girl's face and the outrageously large braces. The hair was an unfamiliar shade, but the eyes were staring back at her. The hazel laced with green, completely overcome with pain. Every time she looked at it, Rachel had tears in her eyes.

She had to admit that leaving her best friend Lucy when they went to middle school was a terrible experience. She also had to admit that when she saw Quinn Fabray for the first time, she didn't recognize her. It was only this week, with the pictures up all over the walls of the school did she put two and two together.

Part of her may have made the connection, but not wanted to believe it. Lucy was sweet and kind. Quinn was the opposite. At least she was in the public eyes.

So one night as she was looking at the picture, Rachel got off of her bed. She put the picture in her own wallet and grabbed her purse as she walked out the door.

Quinn didn't know who would be coming over on a Wednesday night, but the doorbell rang twice and her mom was at her Junior League meeting so she had to rush downstairs and answer it.

When she saw Rachel standing there with two ice cream cones in her hands, Quinn's heart sank to her feet. It finally happened. At first she was terrified of being found out, but Rachel hadn't said anything which both relieved her and devastated her. Her only friend in elementary school didn't recognize her. Not that she really blamed Rachel. There had been a lot of changes.

"I brought you some ice cream," Rachel murmured, "It's made with coconut milk so it's vegan, but it tastes just like the real thing."

"You figured it out," Quinn replied just as quietly.

Rachel inhaled, her entire face looking guilt laden. "I'm sorry it took me so long."

Quinn shook her head, "It's not your fault. I could have come to you."

Rachel extends one of the cones to Quinn who takes it. She steps outside and closes the door behind her. Rachel sat on the top step and Quinn sat next to her, flaring out her skirt before straightening it out beneath her.

"I can't believe I never saw it," Rachel said, pausing before licking up the side of her ice cream.

"Me either," Quinn watched a drop of ice cream run down the cone before catching it.

Rachel turned her head to look at Quinn. "What happened?"

"The kids at my new school weren't as nice, well I guess not nice. They weren't as concerned with keeping their mean thoughts to themselves," Quinn paused to eat some of her ice cream. "I haven't had ice cream in two years."

"Why not?" Rachel asked, "Why haven't you had ice cream?"

Quinn looked down at her dress and straightened it out, running her hand over the light material. "I don't want to be Lucy again. I don't care if people think I'm a bitch or completely crazy….at least they keep that to themselves."

"Lucy, I-" Rachel started, but Quinn interrupted her.

"Don't call me that," Quinn snapped.

Rachel turned her head to find Quinn's eye avoiding her completely. "It's your name."

"It's not who I am anymore," Quinn sighed. She watched the ice cream melt in her hand. She could eat it or let it melt in her hand. A little part of her was stuck between letting Lucy out or letting Quinn reign.

Rachel stopped to clean up her ice cream and set the empty cone on the step next to her. "Lucy," she didn't pause when Quinn glared at her. Instead she pushed her hair away from her face and continued. "You're still Lucy. I can see it in your eyes. When you're sad or when you're hurt, I see Lucy. Maybe I didn't connect the dots right away, but it all makes sense now. It always broke my heart to see you hurting." She reached toward Quinn and took her hand, holding it softly in her own. "You hurt a lot. I see it now."

Quinn exhaled deeply, but didn't try to take her hand out of Rachel's. "I'm different now."

The crack in Quinn's voice made Rachel look up at her face. She could see the tears in her eyes. She placed her hand on the side of Quinn's head and pulled the girl so that Quinn's head was resting on her shoulder. "I know who you are. You're beautiful, inside and out. No more pretending okay?"

Quinn couldn't speak. She squeezed her eyes closed, feeling a few tears fall out. When she opened her eyes a tear fell off of her cheek, falling toward their joined hands. It fell soundlessly onto Rachel's wrist right above a bracelet that Quinn hadn't noticed before. It was a simple pink rope with a single charm hanging off the end – a heart with the letters 'FS' on it. She hadn't seen that bracelet in years.

Quinn reached down and held the charm between her fingers. "You still have it."

"You're still my best friend," Rachel told her, running her fingers the length of Quinn's hair.

"I'll be right back," Quinn said and got up, racing into the house. Rachel looked after her, confused.

Then Quinn walked back out, resuming her previous position. She held Rachel's hand and rested her head on Rachel's shoulder. This time when she looked down, there were two pieces of the heart between them spelling out 'BFFS'.


End file.
